News: Sakumi Yoshino, Period manga author, passes away aged 57

Sakumi Yoshino, whose last manga, period, ended in 2014, passed away from an unspecified illness on April 20th. She was 57, and Shogakukan, who published period in their Monthly Ikki magazine from 2004, honoured her art and untimely passing by posthumously publishing her one-shot manga Itsuka Midori no Hanataba ni in Flowers magazine on April 28th. The same magazine included an interview with Yoshino, as part of the magazine’s 15th anniversary celebration.

Born in Osaka on February 19th, 1959, she debuted in Shueisha’s Bouquet with her Utsu Yori So ga Yoroshii no! manga in 1980. This began a long run of her work in the magazine, following her first with Shonen wa Koya o Mezasu from 1985 to 1987, then serialising Juliet no Tamago from 1988 to 1989. After period ended, her essay manga Yoshino Sakumi Gekijo kept running in Hon no Zasshisha’s Hon no Zasshi literary magazine until her death.